


Music To My Eyes

by mageswagger



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Biting, Canon-Typical Violence, Cunnilingus, F/M, Love Confessions, Nuka world dlc, Porn with Feelings, Rough Sex, Singing, Smut, Song fic, Spanking, Tender Sex, but not in the traditional sense where the lyrics awkwardly break up the story, i just wanted an excuse to have nora singing, is romance a kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 16:31:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16768789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mageswagger/pseuds/mageswagger
Summary: Who knew that it would take a very special Nuka World Radio broadcast to be the kick in the ass Nora and Gage both needed to finally admit that they’re more than just friends?





	1. I Had To Listen Just To Find You

**Author's Note:**

> This is blatant wish fulfillment because I love the soundtrack for A Star Is Born and I just want Nora to sing all of them, and somehow turned into 18k of feelings and emotions and then suddenly smut. Smut doesn't become a thing until chapter 2, if that's why you're here, but ya know. I'd appreciate it if you also read the romance part too!
> 
> Songs used explicitly include Shallow, Is That Alright, Look What I’ve Found, and I Don’t Know What Love Is. I obviously don't own any of them.

The only sound in the back of Fizztop Grille was the rhythmic pounding of a hammer on metal and the low drone of Red-Eye’s narrations as Gage made minor upgrades to his armor, repairing some of the bars that were precariously loose or at risk of doing more damage to him in the event of an unlucky day. Gage was only half listening to the raider radio, having heard most of Red-Eye’s songs and stories before, but God knew he preferred that to the constant repeating rendition of Butcher Pete on Diamond City Radio - and he far preferred Red-Eye’s bravado to Travis’ uncertain stammering. Diamond City Radio was enough to make a man wanna rip out his own ear drums.

The Overboss, as far as he could tell, was out doing business. She did that on occasion, leaving without so much as a word to where she was headed, returning at the end of the day with rosy cheeks and a bright smile that a selfish part of Gage wanted to imagine was just for him. He didn’t worry too much; if Nora was going to be gone for an extended period of time she would either drag him behind her, or at the very least leave a note hidden away in his armor to let him know. And given that his hands were currently all over said armor and there was no trace of paper to be found, he could safely assume it was the former.

The strumming of a guitar replaced the words of Red-Eye in a brief instrumental that Gage knew was pre-recorded on a holotape (because it was always the same damn song, and every time it slipped into the second verse, the first downbeat was always just a fraction too sharp in the same exact way that told him it was just looped in the background while the raider himself took a break, or something of that nature). The reprieve from the grandiose stories was welcome, even if that wry note always drove Gage a little insane, and was good background noise to keep the area from becoming stagnant or unnerving.

Focused as he was, Gage almost didn’t notice when the song came to an end - but Red-Eye’s gregarious voice quickly broke the trance he was in.

 _“Listen up raiders, cause I’ve got a special treat in store for you today,”_ Red-Eye announced, loud enough that Gage’s muscles tensed in surprise. He lifted his head and curiously eyed the radio to his left. Red-Eye rarely deviated from his patterns - and this was a sharp deviation. _“We have a special guest in our station today, one I think you are all very familiar with, here to offer some new variety for your listening pleasure. How about you say hello to our psychopathic listeners?”_

There was the faint sound of movement, and then another voice joined the first - and it didn’t take a genius to recognize that sweet, feminine voice as none other than the devil herself. _“Hello there, Nuka-World. This is Overboss Nora here to give our darling Red-Eye a break so he can sit back and enjoy some music that isn’t his own for a minute.”_

Gage immediately noticed the lower pitch of her voice, the way her ’s’ sounds were a bit heavy handed, and knew she was drunk. Possibly just tipsy - but he would bet money on drunk. He sat the wrench down and leaned his hip against the armor workbench, attention fully devoted to the radio now that his favorite gal was the one running the show.

(Wasn’t that always how that worked out now a days?)

 _“You see, Overboss here claims that she could play me under the table, and I’m not a boasting man, but I ain’t heard many raiders with the same skill I have on the guitar,”_ Red-Eye challenged. There was a soft little laugh, barely there over the audio, but Gage heard it and knew that Red-Eye was in for an awakening. Either that or Nora was going to be pissed in the morning. _“And so I said, well boss, if you’re so confident, why don’t you just come up to the station and prove yourself? And next thing you know - here we are. So hold onto your hats, kiddos, cause we’re in for a real show. Just - promise not to be too hard on her tomorrow when she comes to her senses.”_

The audio shifted slightly, a subtle grit of what could have been a moving microphone, and Nora’s voice was clear and firm as she said: “ _If I hear a goddamn word from anyone trying to start shit, then you’re going to have to face me in the Gauntlet. And I guarantee you’ll lose - no power armor necessary.”_

Red-Eye and Gage both laughed at the same time, though there was a more noticeable edge of concern to the tinny radio laughter than to Gage’s. He knew full well little Miss Nora would hold that promise well. The Gauntlet had remained relatively inactive since Colter’s removal save for tormenting poor traders, but if given the proper incentive, she would kick those doors in and make the unruly line up for a beating.

As her advisor, he probably should have been more concerned about her image. As her friend, as the man who was harboring more than just idle infatuation for the powerful little she-devil, he was pleased as punch - and awfully curious.

 _“Lets try and keep the threats to a minimum here - no need to get people riled up. You do and I’m gonna be the one riffling through the letters we get. But anyway!”_ The guitar strummed, quick and simple, _“In this case I think that actions may speak a little louder than words. Wouldn’t you, Overboss?”_

Her voice made something warm curl through his system as she responded, smooth and almost sultry, _“Oh, I do. Now. If you could-“_ there was a soft little hitch in her voice and it took Gage a second to realize it was a hiccup. Definitely drunk, then. _“Excuse me. If you could hand me your guitar.”_

Gage found himself crossing to the radio and quickly turning up the volume beyond the low drone he usually kept it at, curiosity even higher than it’d been that first day he saw her cutting her way through the Gauntlet. He didn’t have to wait long to hear another strum, the quick procession of a few chords, and then her sweet, slightly slurred voice.

_“You may not know this about me, but when I was growing up I taught myself how to play. Made a lot of money doing it - used it to pay for school - and so I’ve got a few decades of practice under my belt. But it’s been a while, so I’ll go easy on you for now, Red-Eye.”_

The strumming of scales began to shift to a little rhythm, simple and clean, and Gage already found himself impressed. Red-Eye’s usual technique was to strum aggressively through a series of chords, built on top of each other into a simple pattern as he spoke-sang. This was immediately different. Simple notes, clear and precise, with no hint of hurry or uncertainty in their procession. A subtle flare as the notes rose, came to an end and then repeated.

 _“I wrote this song when I was 20._ ” Her voice took on a different quality as she spoke this time, more earnest than her earlier boasting had been to match the understated appeal of her guitar. Already, Gage was impressed - and she couldn’t have played more than one line of music, maybe 5 notes total if even that. Red-Eye ought to be more nervous than he was, in his opinion. _“It’s technically a duet but - well. Last I checked, I only had one voice.”_

The laugh she gave was soft, brief, but made his gut flutter pathetically. The line repeated, same as before, and this time when she made to play it a third time, she began to sing - and something inside of him shifted, like the focus of his world was suddenly ripped away and replaced with a new center entirely.

“ _Tell me something girl, are you happy in this modern world, or do you need more? Is there something that you’re searching for? I’m falling. In all the good times I find myself longing for change, and in the bad times I fear myself._ ”

Her voice was as beautiful as it was when she spoke - and she always spoke with a level of refined class that reminded him that she was a vault dweller, a pre-war woman with more sophistication in her little finger than the whole of Nuka-World had divided amongst their entire population. Rougher than he thought it would be, backed with an earnest honesty that made her words feel far more powerful than they had any right to be, and his heart practically melted away in his chest until his whole torso felt warm and soft. The world felt still and silent around him, as if there was nothing there but her, and even the faint echo of noise from outside seemed to have vanished in the wake of her voice.

_“Tell me something boy, aren’t you tired tryin’ to fill that void, or do you need more? Ain’t it hard keepin’ it so hardcore?”_

The next verse was the same as the first, save for a shift in the lyrics, but sung with a sweet desperation that made Gage wonder what, exactly, had prompted her to write something so sad but so damn pretty. It was unlike anything he had ever heard before, and he knew without a doubt it was better than any damn song Magnolia could ever hope to put out.

But again, he might be biased.

The verse ended, but there was no pause this time - there was a soft inhale, an omen of what was to come, and then her voice projected like the angels themselves from the sky. Bold and determined and backed with a sort of power that Gage didn’t doubt could bring the sun down to earth if she tried hard enough.

_“I’m off the deep end, watch as I dive in, I’ll never meet the ground. Crash through the surface where they can’t hurt us, we’re far from the shallow now.”_

The whole competition they had conceived had been about guitar, but Gage couldn’t be assed to even listen to the way she played when her voice was so damn sweet. She sang the same way she fought - with power and emotion and something raw and real that any man would (or at least should) prostrate themselves before.

Gage found the song over in an instant, and he was frozen to the spot as sudden silence enveloped the radio. Then a coughing, the sound of applause, and Red-Eye’s voice broke the spell. “ _Holy shit boss - that - you didn’t say you could sing like that!”_

 _“Well, I don’t like to brag - I imagine that actions speak louder than words. I’m afraid that wasn’t quite as guitar focused as it was supposed to be though.”_ She laughed, loud and wonderful, and the sound was interrupted by another little hiccup before she excused herself again and began strumming anew. This music sounded more idle, less refined and practiced, more similar to the little warm ups she had begun with. “ _Here. Let me try again.”_

Try again? Shit, Gage didn’t think try was the operative word there. Try again implied she’d messed up the first time. Even if she had, Gage didn’t care a lick - that song was way out of Red-Eye’s league.

 _“What you need to do is get a piano,”_ she was saying, and he heard the sound of something connecting and then a small little gulp. Was she drinking? Drunk? Close to drunk? “ _A real fucking piano, working and everything. God, the things I would do to get my hands on one.”_

The music continued, the next few songs all instrumental, while the Overboss spoke casually over the music as if she weren’t currently eviscerating Red-Eye’s pride live on air. Gage took a pause to head into the patio, flipping on the radio she’d set up there to keep the songs with him as he moved into fresher air - and he found he didn’t even really need too. Dozens of radios were tuned in on the streets, and he could hear murmured conversations as the raiders discussed their newest revelations about their Overboss.

Time passed, their conversation continuing, turning more abstract and ridiculous, her voice getting a little more slurred with each passing song, and Gage was confident that she was on her way to getting wonderfully smashed. He couldn’t even bring himself to hold it against her. Not when this was the first time he’d seen her off the straight and narrow that she usually held herself to.

It was when her conversations turned more towards near constant, drunken laughter - interspersed with small snorts and hiccups that should not have been as endearing as they were - that Gage flipped the radio off and quickly began making his way towards the station. And still, on the walk there, he could hear her from almost every radio they owned.

“ _I just - I don’t fuckin’ get why you’re so determined to act like you don’t have feelings,_ ” she was drawling, voice a mess but words still fairly clear. _“Like…fuck, Red-Eye. We all know that fucking song is yours. We know you wrote it. It’s okay man! Just…you gotta feel your feelings, or otherwise you wind up repressed and angry and then all you wanna do is stupid shit, and it’s when you do stupid shit that you wind up dead. I don’t do stupid shit because I….fucking…I feel!! I let myself feel! And you know what? I could still kick your ass crying. Don’t fucking…..ugh. I forgot what I was saying, aside from the fact that I want to play another song.”_

The strumming took up again and Gage quickened his pace. This was quickly going from endearing to dangerous. The last thing he needed was the gangs thinking that their Overboss was an emotional disaster. Gage knew good and well that she was right, but when you had people like the Disciples listening in? Best to pretend all you felt was rage and lust. Preferably bloodlust.

_“This…was originally for the piano. I wrote it for Nate - my husband, I was married once ya know - when we got married. And I haven’t sung it since cause you know. He’s dead. And our son’s missing. And it didn’t feel right. But fuck, it’s a good song! It’s beautiful! Fuck you, I’m singing it, and if anyone wants to try and say a god damn thing about it, they’re more than welcome to try, and I’ll remind you exactly why I’m the Overboss when I take a page out of Nisha’s book and put your head on a pike.”_

Raider’s were watching Gage as he skirted past, eyes like starved hounds as they pieced together his destination and began to grin, tight-gritted teeth and hungry eyes seeking any sign of weakness.

The door came upon him quickly and he entered without hesitation, climbing his way to the top - the sound of the radio suddenly missing and filling his chest with a cold longing because despite the fact that she was about to sabotage everything they had worked so hard to build on a stupid drunken decision, he wanted to hear more. But maybe next time, just for him.

He turned the corner, saw the glass that indicated the booth where Red-Eye worked, and the sight of Nora leaned back in the chair with an old guitar situated on her lap. He couldn’t hear her through the glass but he could see her - and the very blood in his veins stilled as he saw the raw emotion that her expression painted for him.

Dark brows were furrowed, a small little wrinkle between them as her pretty blue eyes remained tightly shut so he could see the edges of crows feet along the corners. Her lips moved around each word, moreso than they ever did when she spoke, a careful precision that he would admit might have brought some untoward images to the forefront of his mind.

She didn’t notice him, but Red-Eye did. Red-Eye motioned him over, and Gage didn’t hesitate to step into the booth - and there, in that space, he was gifted with the angelic sound of her voice up-close and personal, even sweeter than it had been filtered through shoddy radio equipment.

Gage had told himself that he was going to pull her out of the booth as quickly and drama-free as possible, but when confronted with the opportunity…he froze. Because something about the pain in her face, the sweet longing in her voice, damn near broke his heart - and he wasn’t even the one singing.

_“I hope you’re still with me when I’m not quite myself, and I hope that you’re listening when I say I need help. It’s a warm celebration of all of our years, I dream of our story, of our fairy tale. Family dinners and family trees, teaching the kids to say thank you and please, knowing if we stay together that things will be right.”_

Her voice broke, breath shuddered out of her before being dragged back in, and the voice that came out of her was far more powerful than he’d anticipated it would be in that split second. He thought that she would break, that the song would tear her voice up and leave her raw, but not even she was capable of bringing herself down.

In the end, he supposed that was what he loved about her.

_“I want you to look right in my eyes, to tell me you love me, to be by my side. I want you at the end of my life, I wanna see your face, wanna fall with grace, at the moment I die. Is that alright?”_

The song came to the end on a high, tremulous note, and slowly her eyes opened. They were distant and lost, almost hazy until the moment they landed on him. There was a visible shift in her countenance. She straightened, that little furrow between her brows disappeared and she smiled wide and welcoming. The guitar was immediately set to the side. “Gage! I thought you were back at Fizztop.”

Shit. Shit. She sounded so happy to see him, and that did things to his insides, but they were definitely still on the air and Red-Eye didn’t seem to be making a move to stop the live show that they were about to grace the Raider’s with.

“Heard you on the radio and figured if you had enough time to perform then you had enough time to get some work done,” he drawled lazily - quickly affecting the tone of someone without any investment in her music, of an unbiased right hand man. The thing he was supposed to be and was quickly failing at.

Her face dropped, and regret choked him for an instant. “But Gage - aren’t you tired of hearing the same songs over and over again? I thought this would be more fun.” She patted the table and smiled again, crooked and friendly, but he caught the faintest edge of vulnerability there in her soft blue eyes, and he knew that he had to tread carefully.

“C’mon boss - you can always come back later and wow everyone all over again. Maybe next time Red-Eye here will actually have a piano you can play around with.” He shot Red-Eye a look as Nora’s head spun, turned towards the DJ, and Red-Eye was quick to nod past the fear in his face.

“Oh, uh, of course, boss! Sure thing. Soon as we…figure out where one might be that isn’t, you know. Scrap.”

“Oh, thank you, that would be wonderful,” Nora cooed, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to his cheek. Gage felt something violent seize him, his fist clenching at his side, but Nora was standing with moderate success and making her way over to Gage with that little smile she saved exclusively for him before she fell into him, burying her face against his chest.

“Whatever you want, boss,” Red-Eye said, watching them, and Gage gave a little sigh before nudging her away and placing a hand between her shoulder blades.

“Well - this was fun, but you _are_ out of beer,” Nora sighed and flipped her hair over her shoulder, like a real prissy little thing, and Gage wanted to just haul her back against his chest and drag her caveman style out and back to Fizztop. “Give me a call if you ever get bored. You know where to find me.”

“Right, right,” Red-Eye agreed before quickly delving into the microphone, transitioning out and into something more like his usual fare, and Gage didn’t stay to hear what he had to say. He tugged Nora out of the booth and back down the stairs, but didn’t take her out of the building. He tugged her aside into a small room.

“How’re you feelin’, boss?” he asked, cupping her chin to get a good look at her eyes. Pupil’s were dilated to hell. How drunk was she?

“Good,” she sighed, turning her face up to his and smiling sweetly as she leaned into him. He could feel her little fingers twisted up in his shirt and it made alarm bells ring out in the back of his mind. “It felt good to sing again.”

Before he could help himself he found himself saying: “That last song sounded pretty sad, boss. Not sure I would call that a good feeling.”

Her eyes opened from the half-closed drift he was getting from her, and her little mouth pulled down into a frown. “Being sad is just part of life, Porter,” she said with that sort of aged wisdom that she some times affected when she sought to say something particularly important. “But sometimes, its best to remember that feeling anything at all is just one way to know that you’re alive. You know? It’s when you don’t feel anything at all that you have to worry.”

“Yeah, sweetheart, but announcin’ that to all of Nuka-World might not have been your best idea ever,” he cautioned. “You know some of ‘em are gonna think you’re weak because of it.”

Those pretty blue eyes flashed like steel, her lips tensed and thinned as she pressed them together, and he could feel her mean little nails digging into his abdomen as she said: “Well then, I’ll just shoot them. And I’ll sing while I do it. Is that alright?”

Gage laughed once, short and surprised, and shook his head. The sound seemed to temper her, and her grip relaxed and her lips softened into that sweet expression she sometimes fixed him with - the one that he liked to imagine was reserved just for him.

She leaned in close then, startling him out of his focus, and got up on her tippy toes to bring her mouth closer to his ear. He ducked his head to help close that distance and she whispered, giddy like it was the best secret in the world. “I wrote you a song, too.”

That stilled him all over again, her confession lighting him up inside like a bonfire. He swallowed once. “Oh?”

“Oh,” she echoed with an affirmative lilt to her voice. She shifted back down to the flat of her feet and tilted her head up at him. “But it’s a secret song. I can’t tell you how it goes.”

“That’s awful cruel, to tease me with somethin’ like that and then not even tell me how it goes,” he chastised. She just laughed.

“Maybe I can give you a little hint,” she slowly allowed, flattening her hands against him and idly petting away a few of her stray hairs that clung to about every god damn thing she touched. “Just a little sneak peak. Would you like that?”

Logically he knew she was talking about music. But with her hands on him the way they were, that playful little expression that made her look downright impish, made him think about something else entirely. “I reckon I might.”

Whatever she was looking for from him, that answer must have held it, because she began to hum idly as her fingers continued to trace the ribbed lines of his tank top, slowly up and down over his stomach, and he could hardly focus on the rhythm she sang so gently when she was touching him like that.

 _“I’m alone in my house, I’m out on the town. I’m at the bottom of the bottle, I’ve been knocking them down,”_ she crooned, none of that earlier power in her voice as she offered him something raw and unfinished. “ _I can’t get back up on my feet, see the lights all on the streetlights stars, but look what I’ve found. Look what I’ve found.”_ And then she hummed again, hiding away the lyrics to the song that suddenly he desperately wanted to unearth. It wasn’t difficult to imagine what those secret words might be - but until she said them he was left in limbo, stuck between what he wanted them to be and what they actually wore.

The humming stopped soon after and she leaned into him again, wound her arms around his middle and pressing her face against his collar - she was too short to press it into his neck.

“You’re drunk, boss,” he said, one hand flat against her back in support. “C’mon. Lets get you back home.”

Nora shook her head, wound her arms around his back and spoke into his neck. “Gage. Porter. I wanted to…do you remember our last talk?”

There was only one talk that she could be thinking of, and Gage wasn’t about to approach that when she was drunk. “You mean the one where you told me that if you ever saw another nukalurk again you’d blow your own brains out?”

She shook her head, the motion rubbing her cheek against his skin. “No. I just…I wanted you to know that I really like running with you.” Her big eyes opened, glanced up and fixed themselves on his. “And you said we’d just see how things go, and I…still really like running with you.”

“C’mon now, Nora,” he said gently, hand shifting to her waist to lightly nudge her away from him, though she put up a bit of a fight and gave him a wounded look when there was room to breath again. “You’re drunk, and I feel like this a conversation best left for in the morning, alright? Now lets go ahead and get you back to Fizztop, get you all tucked in and cozy like, and if you still wanna talk about this tomorrow then we will. Sound fair?”

Nora watched him, chewed her lower lip. “You do still like running with me, don’t you? That hasn’t changed?”

Gage gave a little sigh, lifted a hand and rubbed at the back of his head as heat burned awkwardly behind his cheeks. Fortunately, his skin was usually sun-tanned enough that not much embarrassment ever showed, not that it did much good for all that it always showed in his voice like a fuckin’ beacon. “That ain’t changed a bit, sweetheart. No need to worry ‘bout that.”

Tension melted away from her the moment he spoke, a visible reaction that he couldn’t pretend to ignore. She smiled, back to her sweet ol’ self, and this time when he guided her from the building she followed without a hint of complaint, as compliant as ever, and he just wished that it did a damn thing to settle the sudden warmth in his chest when he thought about the way she’d felt nestled up against him.

As suspected, Nora fell right into bed the moment she managed to awkwardly shuffle her way out of her clothes - with some additional help from Gage when she somehow got all twisted up in her vault suit and wound up sprawled awkwardly in a chair and pouting so pathetically that he just had to take pity on her, and she had laughed full and vibrant while he grumbled good naturally and ushered her into bed in nothing but an oversized shirt that she’d pulled over her head before somehow managing to throw off her bra without so much as giving him a peek.

It was probably for the best, given the state of him. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen it before - he was usually the one that dressed her wounds - but he really didn’t want his first glimpse of her bare tits to be when she was too drunk to undress herself without a struggle.

Gage didn’t rest easily that night - in part because she left him with more questions than answers, and in part because he was nervous a few of the more unruly residents of their little town might take the golden opportunity presented by a show of vulnerability to take a strike at their boss.

Still, somehow he managed to sleep just fine, and when he woke up it was to the sound of Nora groaning. He opened his eye and caught sight of her clumsily pushing herself up onto her forearms, hair a wild mess around her face, and slowly looking around the room in a moment of open confusion. When her gaze fell on him her expression immediately brightened (and made his heart stumble clumsily in his chest) before turning a vibrant shade of red as a blush stole across her features.

“How’re you doin’ over there?” he asked from his chair.

“Alright. Did…did you sleep there all night?”

Gage nodded once. “After your little show for everyone, thought it might be safer that way. Don’t think many would wanna cross you given the way you put down that nukalurk queen…but you never know. Raiders can be dumb.”

The smile she gave him was near bashful - an expression he didn’t see often on her - and she lifted a hand to press the dark strands of her hair out of her face. “You didn’t have to do that. But…” she sighed heavily and pushed herself up the rest of the way, sheets pooling around her waist and giving him a glimpse of plush pale thighs. “You’re right. I might have been a bit…belligerent. But I figure as long as I make a demonstration of whoever tries, then they’ll get the message loud and clear.”

God, he loved how casually she said that, like it was no skin off her back. “Your head feel alright?”

Another nod, this one with a bit more energy than the first. She slowly slid out of bed, flashing another glimpse of her thighs and the edges of her underwear before she found her footing and the shirt fell back into place. “I think I’m gonna try and bathe. I feel gross. Then I’m gonna go see if any of the bosses need anything. I’m starting to get antsy.”

“Want me with you boss?” he asked.

That sweet smile from last night was back, her eyes gentle in a way he didn’t think he’d ever seen before, as she said: “Always.”

No one really bothered her when they first left the top of Fizztop Grille - everyone seemed preoccupied with their own shit, and Gage was more than happy to keep it that way. They started the rounds at the front of the park, Nora aiming to circle back to Fizztop at the end so she could gear up accordingly to whatever job it was they wanted run, and the way back towards the amphitheater was largely uninterrupted.

The amphitheater was relatively quiet that morning, most Pack members preferring to wake later in the afternoon and head to bed when morning light began to break. The few who didn’t ascribe to that pattern were the guards who kept up rotation, or the few who preferred the relative calm of an amphitheater morning. Sure, the Pack was full of wild animals, but even beasts needed moments of quiet he supposed.

Mason was there, as always - one of those very Pack members who kept his hours early save for occasional lapses where he joined his crew in their celebrations, which wasn’t as often as one might think. He took his position as Alpha very seriously. It was part of why there were so few problems from the Pack when worse came to worse. Mason kept them in line, and weeded out anyone who thought to overstep on a whim. It left him with a cohesive group whose bonds were only remotely challenged by the Operators.

“Overboss,” Mason greeted as she ascended the steps towards his throne. Gage kept close behind, impassive even as his eye quickly scanned their surroundings to make sure that no one seemed interested in making moves against them. “Caught your performance last night. Gotta admit, it was nice to get a break from the story of Atlas after a thousand times.”

Nora smiled, gave her hip a little cock. “That was my logic going in. But I’m not here to talk about that. You got any work you need done while I’m out on the Wealth?”

Mason shook his head after a moments thought. “Nah, I think we’re doin’ pretty good for the moment. Could use some more supplies though - we’re runnin’ a bit low on any drink that ain’t Nuka-Cola and we’re startin’ to go a bit crazy. But that ain’t exactly the most important thing in the world.”

“I’ll keep an eye out, see what I can do,” Nora said ambivalently. “I might be able to get a few traders to come through with fresh supplies - but you’re going to have to play nice and not try and collar any of them, or else all you’re gonna have for the foreseeable future is gonna be Nuka-Cola.”

“I know when to behave, Overboss,” Mason reminded her, a subtle edge to his tone. But he relaxed quickly enough. “I’ll let you get back to your business then.”

There were no goodbyes aside from a brief, perfunctory nod, and then they were turned around and headed out of the amphitheater. Their conversation with Mags and William went similarly, though both seemed to be more interested in Nora than usual - that sort of intense attention that made Gage a bit uneasy, but they were amiable enough, and Mags just handed Nora a list of people in the Wealth who were making their job a bit more difficult than it should have been. She accepted it with grace and a promise to get the work done.

The Disciples were what Gage was really worried about as they came back around towards Fizztop, and enough time had passed that the raiders were out and prowling around more densely than they did in the early morning. The Disciples watched them pass, silent and intense, and when they entered the blood-smeared space Nisha was downstairs already, talking softly to Dixie about one thing or another. The space within their quarters was always uncomfortably quiet in comparison to the other gangs, and today was no exception.

“Nisha,” Nora greeted, giving the boss an opportunity to pause her current conversation and turn before Nora was in front of her. It was hard to make out her expression behind that damn mask, but her body language was as loose as ever.

“Overboss,” Nisha said, head lilting to one side ever so slightly. “Any news?”

“Nothing pressing,” Nora said. “Just stopping by to see if you had any work that needed done.”

“Now that you mention it…” Nisha straightened and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “We’ve got a cache we need moving, but my men are blocked in by Brotherhood soldiers. Think you can give them a hand?”

“I think that’s reasonable. Tell me where and I’ll head that way.”

It was then Gage caught the edge of a scoff on the sidelines, heard one of the many faceless raiders mumble scornfully: “What is she going to do - serenade them until they run away?”

The silence in the room was suddenly deafening. Nora’s chin lifted slightly, head cocked towards the voice, and slowly she turned to scan the small smattering of lingering raiders. It was easy enough to spot the one that had spoken - they stood more defensively, arms crossed and face turned towards Nora with a sort of expectant tension coiling in their muscles that made them look particularly stiff.

“Here we go,” Gage murmured, hand falling to the weapon at his side just in case.

“Excuse me,” Nora said - and that casual confidence was gone. What replaced it was an icy chill, a firm gaze that was too calm to bare any good news. She was that soft-spoken, sophisticated vault dweller all over again, and that was the most frightening version of herself she ever presented.

“We’re all thinking it,” the Disciple said, rising to their full height and towering easily over Nora’s smaller frame. “No one else is brave enough to say it. What good is an Overboss that’s going to sing pathetic little love songs instead of getting the real work done? I didn’t realize we’d put a fucking joke up in Fizztop.”

There was no pause between their words and the shot that rang out. Gage hadn’t even seen her pull the .44 from her holster - but he saw the way the Disciple buckled and cried out, the bloodied pulp that was their knee as they fell to the floor, and the steaming end of Nora’s gun as she held it with an almost casual grace.

“I’m sorry,” she said, no more affected than before. “I believe that joke you were talking about just shattered your kneecap. I’ll tell you what.”

The gun was holstered and she stepped forward, kneeled in front of the groaning Disciple, and caught their chin hard in her mean little hand. He could see her pretty nails digging into the skin of the Disciple, the skin going pale from the pressure where she gripped them.

“If you want, I’d be more than happy to sing you to sleep.”

There was a flash of steel and then a combat knife was in her hand, pressed up against the Disciples throat. She was smiling, soft and gentle, but her eyes - her eyes had murder in them. She continued: “You might not wake up afterwards, though.”

The Disciple shook their head, slow and angry, and Nora tutted before slipping the knife away - letting it knick the raider’s skin in the process - and rose back to her full height. She turned her back to them, a clear dismissal, and looked to Nisha as if she hadn’t just shot one of her men right in front of her. “You might need to tighten your leash, Nisha. Your people are starting to lose their edge.”

“They just want to make sure you aren’t steering us wrong,” Nisha said, smooth and calm and entirely unmoved by the display.

“And that isn’t their job now, is it?” Nora asked, stepping up to Nisha and looking up into that dead-eyed mask. “If I remember correctly, that’s Gage’s job, and your job, and Mags and William and Mason’s job. Keep your pawns in line, or I’ll take them out. Same as any other. I’ll get you your cache and your men. I’ll even let this one live. But know this - the next one who makes a snide comment about my capabilities? They wont be treated quite so nicely. And then I’ll have nice pretty garland made from their guts, just in time for Christmas. How does that sound?”

Gage didn’t love this whole situation. But to his surprise, and relief, Nisha stepped back. She nodded once. “If they’re dumb enough to get caught, then they’re useless to me. Do what you want.”

Another smile flashed across Nora’s pretty face, and it made her look like a statue. “Good. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you. Until then, have a pleasant afternoon.”

The walk back to Fizztop was silent. There was a tension in Nora’s shoulders, near imperceptible, but Gage had gotten well accustomed to her tells and he knew that she wasn’t satisfied with how that had gone. They stepped up on the lift and the silence didn’t break until they were safely back in her quarters, and she leaned herself against the counter with a sort of pensive expression that told him she was about to say something that was important to her.

“Gage,” she said, soft and near timid, a tone he didn’t expect given the mood he had thought she was in.

“Yeah boss?”

She looked over her shoulder at him, teeth tugging at her lower lip as she watched him for a long moment. “You…you don’t think any less of me, do you?”

The question stalled him. He blinked, caught off guard. How could he think less of her? He didn’t think there was a damn thing she could do to convince him that she wasn’t good for Nuka-World. Good for him, even.

“Boss, it’ll take a hell of a lot more than you showing off that pretty little voice of yours to make me think any less of you. Shit…you know that. Already told you that there’s no place I’d rather be than right here, workin’ with you.”

That pensive expression returned as she watched him, slowly straightening herself up before moving back into his space. His heart was thundering away behind his ribs like it was trying to strike up its own little song for her to follow along with, and that thought was so damn poetic it made him wonder if she’d somehow managed to get even further under his skin than he thought.

“Gage…” she paused, kept herself from continuing, and he waited patiently until she seemed to find the words she wanted. “I…there’s a lot I feel like I want to say, but for the first time, I’m not sure I have the right words for it.”

That little wrinkle creased between her brows and she turned her gaze away, looking off into the distance as she thought, and he didn’t try to push her. He knew she needed the time to think, to put her head on straight. She was always so careful with her words, performative in a way, but when it was the two of them that performance often took a back seat to something more raw - more honest than what she ever offered any of the assholes they led.

“When I first started writing music it was because I didn’t know the right words to say anything any other way,” she admitted. “And last night…I just wanted to sing. And I haven’t wanted to sing in so long, and I didn’t know - where else could I go? I didn’t want the world to hear me. I just wanted something. And I’m starting to think that maybe you were right. I should have just kept my mouth shut. But…I just got tired, I suppose.”

“And drunk,” he added unhelpfully, but it brought a little smile to that sad expression she wore and he thought it was worth it. But he couldn’t just leave it there, not when for the first time, she was the one opening up to him and not the other way around. “Look, boss. Nora. Was it smart? Probably not. But not everything has to be smart. Sometimes, you just go with your gut. And I gotta tell you…I ain’t ever heard anything half as pretty as the way you sang last night. Raider life don’t exactly lend itself to a lot of beauty, and the fact that you’ve still got that sort of thing inside of you livin’ the life we lead? Well. It ain’t nothin’ short of inspiring. But you know that I don’t think the same way as the other gangs do.”

“Well lucky for me, I don’t especially care what the other gangs think.” Her expression turned bashful again, her gaze dropping and her pale cheeks taking on a soft pink hue. “Honestly? I only care what you think. You…you’re always there for me Gage. And I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t.” That blush worsened and she began chewing at her lip again, fingers twisting together uncomfortably. “And I…I suppose that I’ve been a coward. Because I keep wanting to ask you something…and I keep talking myself out of it. But last night, when you looked at me I thought that maybe it’d be worth asking after all. But I’m still so scared that it isn’t, that I’ll ruin everything, and I’ll lose you and I can’t handle losing someone else.”

It didn’t take a genius to read between the lines, and Gage, for all that he tried to do right by Nora, couldn’t tell one way or another what the right way here was. He was stuck, wedged between decisions, and inevitably it was the way that furrow between her brow began to deepen again as the silence lingered that pushed him to step forward into her space and take her hands to pull those writhing fingers apart and still her for just a moment. She looked up at him, eyes wide and hesitant, and Gage took a moment to gather himself so the next words out of his mouth weren’t entirely pathetic.

“Nora,” he said, her real name tasting sweet in his mouth, and her whole body seemed to lean into his as he said it. “We’re a good team. You know that. Ain’t anybody else I’d rather run with.”

“We’re more than just a good team, Gage,” she said in that damn sweet little voice of hers, the sort of voice that should never come so sincerely from a raider like her. He had seen her blow the head off a man from fifty yards away, had seen her slit a man’s throat while he slept and pop a slave collar on an unsuspecting scavenger. She had the potential to be ruthless and horrifying, just like anyone else in Nuka-World - but here, now, she was looking up at him through her lashes, and her fingers were curling around his and Gage was leftwith a sort of instinctive flight or fight sensation bubbling in his chest. Every part of him hated conversations like this, the vulnerability that came with it, but looking at how vulnerable and open she was being with him? Shit, he’d have to be some sort of asshole to not offer her something of that back. “You know it and I know it.”

“Yeah, I guess we are,” he admitted, turning his palm up to hers and watching the way it made her smile. “I gotta tell ya, this isn’t exactly how I was thinking this conversation was gonna go.”

“Really?” she asked incredulously, that smile taking a wry turn as she watched him. “You’re saying that you’ve never thought about it? About us?” Her fingers interlocked with his, so fucking small in comparison he was almost foolishly afraid he might break her when in truth he knew the opposite was far more likely. “You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed how well we fit together. Sometimes it’s all I can think about.”

He exhaled, sharp and defeated and more bashful about it than he ever wanted to admit (and if anyone ever accused him as such, he’d very politely shoot them in the face to keep them silent about it) as he admitted, “Okay, fine. I guess, maybe sometimes. We’ve been through a lot, and you’re somethin’ else, all right. But…I aint never done anything like this. Ain’t sure it’d work, you know?”

“Why wouldn’t it?” she asked. “Gage…we work well together everywhere else. You know we do. I know we do. And you and I both know that we aren’t exactly willing to back down from something if we really want it.” Her teeth caught her lip. “That is…if you really want it?”

“Shit, boss,” he groaned. “You know I’m not good at this sappy shit. Of course I want it. But - are you sure?” He looked into her eyes, searching for something that told him she wasn’t just pulling him around to abandon him five seconds later, looking to see something in her eyes that he hadn’t seen in the other people he’d flirted around with to no greater aim than quick fun. “No kidding around here, is this really what you want?”

The answer was in her eyes as she nodded and closed the distance between them, sidling up against him and pressing her face back to his collar like she had the night before and keeping their hands interlocked between them. It was a sickeningly sweet display of affection that should have had him turning tail and running out the door…but he didn’t want to leave. Not now. Not ever.

“Damn, boss,” he muttered. “You are somethin’ else. I don’t know how to explain it. Like, I found a piece of me I didn’t know I was missing. I don’t know what happens next. But, hell…ain’t nobody I’d rather have with me.”

There was a soft brush against his skin as she kissed his neck, unwinding her hands from his so that she could instead wrap herself around him and curl herself into his chest. His heart was thundering away like it was trying to break free of his body entirely to take up residence beside hers, and he couldn’t even be mad at how sappy his thoughts were turning when she was nestled up so sweetly against him. He wound his arms around her in turn, curled one hand in her hair to keep her close, and he could feel her breath ghost across his skin as she sighed.

“The song that I was telling you about,” she murmured, lips brushing against him with every word. “It’s the first thing I’ve written in…well. A while. And when I was writing it…I was thinking about you the whole time. If you still wanted to hear it, that is. It probably doesn’t sound as good without a guitar or a piano, but if you want-”

“Sweetheart, just sing the damn song.”

Nora laughed, curled tighter against him, and the silence claimed them once more until all he could hear was the steady beat of her breath. Then, just when he thought she was going to chicken out on him, he heard it - soft and delicate, sung into his skin just over his heart, and this time instead of hums she gifted him with words - a little sad, a little forlorn at first, and it almost made him self conscious until the second verse came around and her tone changed, turned sweeter and he felt his own heart start to physically try and eject itself from his body.

_“I cant get myself out of bed, hear these voices in my head like a song, but look what I’ve found. Somebody who loves me. Look what I’ve found, somebody who carries round a piece of my heart just layin’ on the ground.”_

He lips brushed his chest again, then up to his neck and she rose onto her tip toes to kiss below his ear as she continued, voice barely a song and more of a confession. _“When I met you I was blown to pieces, heart all over the floor. Ever since you put me back together I can’t believe it - look what you’ve found.”_

He could tell there was more for her to say, could feel the way she drew in a breath to push forward, but Gage couldn’t stand it another minute. His hand lifted from her waist, caught her cheek and stilled her voice as he dipped down to close the space between them and slide his lips over hers, capturing the aborted hums of her song in his mouth.

The next sound that left her was a startled little hum that turned to an aching sigh as her body arched into his, her mouth immediately yielding to him as her lips parted and his tongue automatically swept across them and licked into her mouth - it was fast, there was no slow build, and he imagined some might have thought he was doing it all wrong (and for a second he was ready to curse himself for bulling onward so quickly) but she gave him another little sound - this a high whine that he almost didn’t catch - and her fingers trailed up to curl as best they could into the dark brown of his mohawk.

Despite himself, he knew there was no ungodly reason why he should be so lucky to have someone like Nora in his arms. There was no reason why she should look at him and decide that from all the choices she had at her feet in the Commonwealth, that she would find him the most deserving. A better man might have said as much, but Gage was a raider through and through and he knew, deserving or not, he had no qualms about staking his claim on her.

Part of him regretted he couldn’t offer her something so beautiful as she had offered him. He supposed that just meant he would have to spend the rest of their time together proving that she hadn’t acted unwisely in offering her heart to a old raider like him.

They parted, breaths coming more quickly than before, the warmth of her lips still lingering against his, and Gage couldn’t bring himself to stop touching her. He dipped again, ran his mouth along her cheek and down to her neck - the touch less inciting than it was adoring - and Nora’s head just tilted welcoming to the side and invited him in.

“You’re a real stunner,” he murmured, mouth hovering by her ear as his hands slid down her back to curl around the tops of her thighs, fingers digging possessively into her skin. “You know that, don’t you?”

“When you say it? I believe it.”

His mouth found hers again, unable to help himself, and she let out a shuddering breath as they collided anew. This kiss was softer, slower, and Gage didn’t allow his baser instincts to rush blindly forward as he had before. He let himself learn her more simply - learned which touches made her breath catch, which slide of their lips made her cling tighter to him, and it was the little moan that broke through her relative silence as his teeth caught her lower lip and tugged that forced him to pull back from her again with his control dangling from a spiderweb.

“We’ve got places to be, boss,” he said, needing to remove his hands but finding himself unable to. “That cache ain’t gonna hold up against the Brotherhood for long.”

“I know,” she breathed. Her fingers disentangled themselves and fell to his shoulders. “We should go.”

At first neither moved, and with a groan at having to be the decision maker yet again, he pulled his hands from her - but not before letting them slide up and cup her ass warmly for a blissful instant. When he stepped back she was smiling, cheeks pink. “Tease.”

Gage laughed. “C’mon, darlin’. Got places to be. We can pick this up later.”

And as if to punctuate that remark, as she turned to grab her armor and slot it into place, his hand snaked out and gave her ass a firm swat. She jolted and looked over at him, fire in her eyes and a terrible half-frown half-smile curling her lips. “Behave, Gage, or else we’re going to have to explain to Nisha why we let all her men die.”

“Might be willing to face her if it meant I got to touch you,” he retorted, grinning wide as she laughed and shoved his shoulder back before returning to her work. This time he let her - but his mind definitely wasn’t at the job at hand.

Once they got themselves in order and out the door, the trip into the Commonwealth went by quickly. A small part of Gage might have been worried that this changed things, that adding this new dimension to their partnership might disrupt the normalcy that he had come to depend on so stringently, but Nora was as focused as ever as they made their way to the station, never deviating from her course. He stood behind her when she pulled herself into the controller’s seat of the tram, leaned against the back of the seat and rested his chin on top of her head as they rattled onward towards Nuka-Station, and all the while he could hear her humming under her breath - sometimes the melody of the song she’d gifted him, and sometimes something new that he hadn’t heard before that changed every so slightly with every rendition she offered.

The humming stopped when the tram did, and a part of him missed it. Gage hadn’t considered himself someone who felt too deeply about music, not in the way that his Nora so clearly did, but when the music came from her? Well. He was pretty sure he could become one.


	2. Let Your Melodies Fly In My Direction

There was a muffled pop as her sniper rifle went off, the back jolting against her shoulder with the force of the bullet leaving the chamber, and Gage watched from a distance as the faint figure of a Brotherhood soldier jolted and fell to the pavement. The firing in the distance continued as the Disciples and the Brotherhood clashed - soldiers on the outside, trying to fight their way into the apartment that the Disciples had turned into their own war zone. They didn’t seem to notice immediately that the comrade had dropped due to outside interference, and with that silencer of her’s she’d crafted, the echo of a gunshot was ultimately drowned out by the blasts of laser pistols and turrets.

Unfazed, Nora loaded in the next round, and took aim again. Gage watched attentively, her sentinel as he tracked the movements of the soldiers and made sure that none seemed the wiser. When it seemed clear he gave her shoulder a little tap, and there was a brief pause before the gun jolted and another soldier fell in the distance.

Two more brotherhood soldiers fell before they noticed that someone on the outside was taking them out, and a brief warning from Gage was all Nora needed to sling the rifle back onto her back and pull out the much more quick .44 that she favored so deeply.

Gage didn’t hesitate to flick the safety of his rifle off and follow her into the chaos, keeping her back clear as she charged into combat, getting closer than he would ever feel comfortable with to place well-aimed shots in the chests of the soldiers still standing. Shots flew wild, soldiers torn between eliminating the still largely-protected Disciples from their perch on the upper floors and the slender little raider currently decimating their numbers with a ruthless efficiency that always got his blood going.

When a soldier tried to slip past their notice and glide behind Nora’s back, Gage didn’t even have a chance to take him out before Nora was spinning on the spot and pistol whipping him hard in the temple, dazing them and sending him right to the ground. Gage kept his fire on the soldiers now at her back as she shot the downed soldier between the eyes. Her gaze lifted, met his, and she gave him a thankful smile before spinning right back into the fight with wild abandon.

God, he loved that girl.

After that the fight ended quickly. None of the soldiers had a suit of power armor - Gage figured this was a small scale scouting party - and in honesty, he wasn’t even sure that would have been enough to tilt the odds in the soldier’s favor. When the gunfire ended, Nora holstered her weapon and strolled up to the barricaded door to give a solid knock. “Areas clear,” she announced. “Route back to Nuka-World should be clear. You leave now you’ll get there before sundown.”

There was a moments silence, and then the sound of shifting furniture. The door opened, allowing a narrow slip for raiders to slip through and spill into the streets. The final two raiders had large cases with them that they had to maneuver to get through the mostly barricaded door, and they all gave their Overboss a single nod as they passed and began their path towards home. The final one paused, looked to Nora and said: “There’s some supplies in there still. Might be worth taking a look and seeing what you can use.”

“Thanks. I’ll take a look.”

The Disciples made their escape and Nora only hesitated to adjust the rifle on her back before quickly squeezing her way in through the partially open door. Gage was short to follow her behind, closing the door behind him for good measure, and the next half-hour passed with him watching her rifle her way through every nook and cranny of the first floor. She made a pile of scrap in the center, the sort she used for her weapons and defenses, and the trash she left where it was. Ammo she would toss his way to shove into his pack to investigate more closely latter and determine whether it was better to sell or stockpile, and when she popped a trunk in the corner she gave a soft sound of excitement before pulling out a highly modded laser pistol. She looked it over carefully, turning it over in her hands, and then extended it to him.

“It’s everything I’ve ever wanted,” he said wryly. She snorted, rolled her eyes, and pushed it into his hands.

“Shush. You can keep it or sell it - I’ve got enough caps.”

Eventually the downstairs was clear of anything of worth, and she quickly shoved her scrap into her pack before ascending the dilapidated staircase and pushing open the door on the second floor. Gage wasn’t far behind her, but he didn’t need to be to hear the sharp gasp she sucked in. His steps quickened, but when no sound of a scuffle followed he relaxed and took his time on the final steps to follow behind and see what it was that had gotten her so excited.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out it was the dusty but in-tact piano in the far corner, the house there still mostly in one piece and evidently having protected it from the elements of the passing years.

“Oh my god,” she breathed, dropping her bag and wasting no time at all to slip onto the rickety bench. Her fingers brushed over the keys soundlessly, and Gage figured that they might be there for a while yet. He glanced out the window as she inspected the instrument and realized that if they waited much longer, then they’d have to make camp before moving on to complete Mags’ little expedition.

“You know boss,” he said, catching her attention. She turned to him, watching him over her shoulder, and he continued, “Figure if this place could hold up against an assault from the Brotherhood, it might not be a bad place to set up camp for the night. Walls are mostly in tact, and that door down there is sturdy.”

The way she smile made warmth bloom in his chest. “You’re sure?” she asked. “It’s still early, and we can probably travel for another hour before we have to camp. We’d lose a lot of time.”

Gage answered by setting down his pack and moving to inspect the defenses the Disciples had left. “The way I see it, if we’re a bit slow on getting the drop, then the guy still winds up dead. Right? Does it matter if we’re the ones who pull the trigger? Sides. He ain’t gonna go far.”

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree and he felt a similar sensation erupt in his chest. He grinned at her, unable to help himself. “C’mon. You stay there - I’ll get this place secure, and we can just relax for a bit.”

Happiness radiated off of her in waves, more powerful than any spotlight he’d ever seen, and when she thanked him it was with so much sincerity that it almost made him bashful about it. “Thank you, Gage.”

“Don’t worry about it.” His response was gruff, but it didn’t seem to upset her any as she turned back to the large piano at her front and began to lightly press the keys. He could hear her testing the piano out as he got to work securing their perimeter and setting up a few extra traps just in case, her cautious presses turning to more confident notes, some a bit less pretty than the others - probably because the instrument was out of tune after 200 years without a good seeing to.

Eventually her exploration turned to something more concrete, the melody of a song that he placed as one she’d played on the radio the night before, and then into something else halfway through as if that song wasn’t what she was looking for. It was as he was pushing the large dresser back in front of the door to keep it completely shut that he heard a bouncy little number echoing down the stairs, one that matched the melody she had hummed for him so sweetly. It caused him to pause and turn his gaze towards the echoing stairwell, and soon enough he could hear that gorgeous voice of hers joining in.

It took significant willpower to keep from marching straight up there to enjoy her properly, but he dedicated himself to his final checks before making the ascent again, and by the time he stepped into the room she had shifted away into something else entirely - the little humming songs she had played with on their way out into the Wealth taking form on the piano. Gage took a seat on the mattress across the way, one actually supported by a bed frame, and set down his rifle as he watched her back.

Slowly, time passed, and her playing became more confident - and she began to hum along, soft and sweet, a few mumbled words coming through every now and again before pausing and fading out. Whenever this happened her head would tilt to the side, and though he couldn’t see her face, he could imagine the way she might catch her lip between her teeth and gnaw the skin to death as she considered her options. Eventually, when she found something she liked, she would straighten again and that confident half-hum half-song would tumble delicately from her lips.

Gage didn’t know how long it was he watched her for, but inevitably the sun began to sink, and whatever she was creating had begun to take a form more concrete. Around that time she paused and turned in the seat, straddling the bench and bracing her hands between her thighs as she looked to him. “Are you bored?”

Caught off guard, Gage shook his head. “Nah. Like listenin’ to you play. Ain’t had many opportunities to hear someone play a piano like that. Hard to find one in one piece that isn’t totally shit for sound.”

Tension eased in her shoulders - tension he hadn’t even noticed until it was gone - and she smiled. “Come here.”

Not one to disappoint, Gage pushed himself to his feet and made his way over. She scooted over on the bench and patted the space beside her, and despite faint edges of hesitance, he found himself taking a seat beside her and letting her place his fingers onto the aged and dirty keys, gone more brown than ivory with age.

“Here. Let me show you,” she said, and then her body was nestled up warm against his - as close as she could get, with both their sets of armor still on. She nudged her hands under his and he let his rest in place as she began to play again, this time guiding him along with her little melodies.

“I don’t exactly have a head for music, sweetheart,” he protested even as he let her manipulate his hands.

“Only takes a little practice,” she assured him. “Besides. I’m good enough for both of us.”

She looked up at him, eyes sparkling in amusement, tongue caught between her teeth as she grinned, and Gage rolled his eyes before pulling his hand off of hers to catch her cheek and pull her mouth against his.

There was no hesitation - Nora just sighed as if she had been waiting for exactly that, her own hand lifting to mirror his this time, and leaned into him until his damn armor started to become more of a problem than it was worth. She laughed as it dug into her arm, shifted to try and get comfortable, before her laughter turned to a serious case of the giggles and she disentangled herself entirely. “Have I mentioned how much I hate your armor?”

“Yeah, don’t hate it so much when it keeps me from having a few too many scars.”

“Well, I hate it when we’re not fighting,” she amended. She placed her fingers back on the keys, began playing again, and this time she didn’t try to make him play along. They sat like that in silence for a long moment, the only sound the soft melody she created, before she spoke again. “I think you’d have a nice voice.”

This caught him off guard all over again. His brow rose. “Yeah?”

Humming the affirmative, her hands shifted down along the keys, finding a lower octave. “Yeah. I mean - I don’t think I’ve told you this before, but I’m particularly fond of the way you sound.” Her cheeks were pink, and if she wasn’t so focused on making such pretty sounds on that old piano, he might have considered just pulling her back into him so he could kiss her until her whole body was flushed red, from the tips of her toes to the root of her hair.

“Likin’ the way I speak doesn’t have much at all to do with the way I sing,” he said. “Fraid I’ve got more in common with a dying cat than any of the crooners you’re thinking of.”

Undeterred, she shook her head and argued with him. “No, no, you’re just thinking of all those songs they play in Diamond City. No - the real trick is, it doesn’t matter how pretty or amazing your voice is. It doesn’t matter if you can hit every note in the book, or if you can hold a note for half an hour. What really matters, at the end of the day, is how you use it, and what you say while you’re doing it.”

She spoke with such conviction he almost wanted to believe her - but he knew himself well enough to know that he was no Bing Crosby. Still, she began to hum again, and this time she added words, slow and precise, and it didn’t take a genius that she was taking her time because even she didn’t quite know the words that were about to fall out of her mouth: “If I had the courage, I’d know just what to do. Sometimes I have to crawl…” her fingers slowed, her brow creased, and after a moment she continued with a hesitance that humbled him, “…and every day I fall, trying just to stand by you.”

The music stopped, and she began again, focusing on that one spot, and the next she sang it was with more courage, and then again and again until her fingers moved with a confidence he couldn’t dream of having himself, and her voice was warm and full and as gorgeous as it ever was. When she finished she looked to him, that simple section perfected to something he could stand to hear the rest of, and she smiled. “You know the words?”

“Ain’t many there to know.”

“C’mon,” she nudged her shoulder against his, though it mostly just connected with armor. “Sing it with me then.”

“Aw, c’mon now. I already told you I can’t sing.” He raised a hand and ran it over his head, feeling incredibly vulnerable at the very idea, and wasn’t that just the weirdest damn thing?

“You don’t have to,” she said - no cajoling or pressure in her voice. Just a simple request. “I’ll sing with you.”

Gage sighed and looked to the ceiling. At the end of the day, he knew he’d do it, because at the end of the day he knew that there wasn’t much he wouldn’t do if she always asked him so genuinely. “Fine.”

Notes filled the air again and when he looked at her she looked so god damn happy, he almost felt like he’d somehow cheated to find something so simple that meant so much to her. So when she began to slow and look at him - playing without even looking at her fingers, the show off - he found himself taking a breath and matching her words in a tentative voice that made him feel all too self conscious about it. Damn woman was going to drive him insane.

“ _If I had the courage I’d know just what to do…”_

The music stopped, and her voice disappeared. Gage looked at her, almost afraid of what he might see, and she was staring at him with wide eyes and open mouth. His defenses rose. “Look, darlin’, I told you I can’t sing for shit-”

“Gage,” she breathed, cutting him off. “Gage - holy shit. That’s not it at all.” She faced him, cocking one leg up on the bench. “Gage, you can _sing._ ”

“That’s fuckin’ dumb.”

Her head shook rapidly, and then she was sitting up on her knees, catching his face in her hands and forcing him to look at her. “Gage, have I ever lied to you?” she demanded.

“I mean. No, but, you’re a little biased, boss,” he hedged.

Those mean little fingers just gripped him tighter, nails dragging across his jaw. “Gage, I ain’t lying-”

His brows rose sharply as she stumbled, her turn now to blush, and he grinned at the distraction. She hastened to correct herself but it was far too late. “Ain’t, boss? Shit, I’m startin’ to think I’m a bad influence on you, Miss Prim and Proper.”

“Shut up,” she grumbled, ducking her face to hide herself even as she nudged him away from her - only to curl her hands in his armor and bring him closer a second later as he laughed. “When you get used to hearing it all the time, sometimes you just sort of…slip into it.”

“Sure, sure, whatever you say, darlin’,” he teased. But she was smiling, and his heart felt light. She leaned into him and brushed her lips across his cheek, a sort of delicate reverence in the action that humbled him to think for even a second that she wanted to offer him anything nearly so sweet.

“Sing for me, Gage?” she asked sweetly, lips brushing over his. “Please? Just for me?”

Unfair was what she was being, but Gage couldn’t help but find his objections disappearing with ever tender brush of her lips across his face. The tension left him as he gave a heavy sigh before nodding, and he could feel her smile against his cheek before she gave him a sweet little kiss and settled herself back into place beside him on the piano bench.

“Here,” she said, voice breathy and happy and he was fuckin’ doomed all over again. “I’ll sing it with you, alright? Just follow me.”

The piano struck up again, and he was quickly learning the melody to this little song she’d started, and it wasn’t too difficult for him to find the moment to come in, and his voice joined hers as she had begged him to as they voices filled the air around them.

“If I had the courage, I’d know just what to do. Sometimes I’d have to fall, and everyday I’d crawl forever just to stand by you.”

Gage didn’t think his voice was beautiful at all - it was low, and rough, and gruff, and the notes weren’t clean and the notes he did hold were wobbly and uncertain, but she looked at him as if his voice were the most god damn beautiful thing she’d ever heard, and for a minute he imagined he felt how she felt whenever she saw him watch her play.

“C’mon, lets add a little more,” she said. “Help me out here.”

“Already told you I ain’t a poet, sweetheart,” he reminded her.

“Don’t have to be. All you have to do is help.” Her fingers took up position again, playing out the melody as she hummed the verse she’d begun, and she began to mumble under her breath a vague sense of how she wanted the song to go. Gage didn’t think he was much help at all. But no matter what she seemed stuck, struggling to find the words she wanted that captured whatever it was she felt in that big heart of hers. And still he couldn’t help but thing how angelic she looked like this - the sun was setting in the window to their left, basking the whole room in an orange glow as the light began to fade, her hair tumbling into her face as she focused on the piano before them.

And suddenly, he had the words, and when she began to hum the rhythm she wanted, despite himself - despite his hesitance and the fact that he still thought she was half crazy for seeing any sort of beauty in that rough voice of his - he found himself supplying the words she sought after.

“I swear I’ve seen an angel…” her gaze lifted to his, those baby blues wide and eager, and he pushed onward, “a paradise in blue…but I don’t know what love is…” the music slowed, her face softening to something vulnerable and beautiful and all too good for him. “…but I think it might be you.”

The music ended, note ringing in the air, and she was looking at him with the sort of adoration that made him almost uncomfortable. But then she was grabbing him again, curling her fingers into his armor and hefting herself back up onto her knee, one leg on the bench and the other foot on the floor, to press her mouth back into place against his.

Something changed as they kissed this time, and that playful, sweet desire simply to touch and be touched faded away with each brush and sweep of her mouth against his. All thoughts of music faded away to nothing, the melody long gone from his mind as his lips parted to the warmth of hers and her soft tongue pressed eagerly into his.

Gage wasn’t used to tender, or sweet, or soft, or anything at all like Nora so clearly wanted here. But in this moment, everything else felt wrong, and so he made himself adapt. His hand caught her hip, fingers pressing into the full swell of her backside as she sighed and her lashes fluttered and her arm moved to try and wrap around his shoulders only to catch on his damn armor again.

“Take this off,” she murmured, parting only enough to speak before returning her lips to his, and Gage really didn’t need to be asked twice. His hands left her, unwillingly, to quickly make work of the latches that kept the armor in place, and once the hinges moved freely he pulled his lips from hers to pull the armor off and set it aside at the foot of the piano.

Nora took that moment - always pressing every advantage - to quickly unbuckle the latches that kept her armor in place, her chest piece falling to the floor with far less care. The largest barriers between them gone, Nora didn’t hesitate to fall into him all over again, chest to chest and arms wound around his shoulders as he tilted his head back and kissed up into her.

Hands caught her thighs, tugged her closer until she sat down in his lap, backside smacking against the keys of the piano and letting a discordant sound jolt through the room that they both ignored. Her mouth moved more demandingly, teeth tugging at his lips, tongue sweeping across to sooth them only to delve back into his mouth, and his hands ran greedily along her legs, gripping and kneading at the plush heft of her thighs that he had admired so many times in that damn blue suit of hers.

Though he’d barely touched her anywhere especially inciting, she was gasping and giving him little whimpers that told him he didn’t have to to get her all worked up for him. He wasn’t going to lie - that did something to his ego. Her arms tugged away, and their hands met to clumsily begin unbuckling her bracers, and when it proved that kissing was too much of a distraction for her to get the work done she pulled away with heavy breaths to look at what she was doing.

That wasn’t nearly enough to stop Gage. His mouth simply fell down to her throat as her arms lifted, laving the pale column with open-mouthed kisses that made her breath stutter unsteadily and her chest rise with each unsteady inhale. His hands slid up her thighs to her waist, greedily grabbing hold, pressing his fingers into her just to feel the way her soft body yielded to his demands, and she barely had one bracer off when he let his hands glide up to grip her small chest and drag his palms over the pinpricks of her nipples.

Heat shot right through him at the moan the action pulled from her, much louder than before, and that was all the encouragement he needed. He sucked at her throat, leaving a litany of marks in his wakes as his fingers kneaded and tugged at her tits, cupping them and thumbing her nipples relentlessly as her hips began to rock of their own accord against his. When she began taking off her braces she had sat up on her thighs again, taking some of the pressure off his lap, but just feeling the way she rocked forward into him was enough to make his cock ache something fierce.

“Gage,” she gasped, and he heard the sound of the brace striking the ground before he felt her hands on his face and let her drag him back up to her mouth. The kiss was slick, desperate, almost sloppy in her sudden zeal to offer him even a glimpse of the pleasure he had plucked so carefully from her body, and he was lost all over again.

Instinct had his hands dropped to her hips as he stood, carting her against him and lifting her with ease. Those thick thighs of her clamped down around his waist, her hands leaving their sentry to clutch at his shoulders as he carried her across the room - kicking his armor out of the way in the process - to lean down and lay her out underneath him on the mattress.

Pulling back to yank his shirt off over his head, he was struck by the sight of her spread out. Her legs parted, thighs hooked around his hips - falling lower on his body now that he wasn’t hovering over her - and chest heaving as she caught her breath. Her hair spilled out across the ratty pillow like a damn halo, gleaming even in the low light of the sunset. Pink had spread across her cheeks and down to her throat, interspersed with darker red circles of broken veins where he had sucked bruises across her skin, disappearing under the collar of her vault suit and leaving him with only his imagination to fill in the blanks.

Evidently he didn’t have to wait long. The shirt came off, and she was lifting her hands to catch the little silver zipper at her throat. He was frozen on the spot, hungry eyes trailing the path of her fingers as the blue began to part to reveal a glimpse at the swell of her breasts, down until it hit her navel, and he realized that she hadn’t put on even the hint of a bra.

“Damn, woman. You’re gonna be the death of me,” he mumbled, and she smiled a wicked smile as her fingers pulled herself out of that suit, first revealing those pert little breasts and then pushing the suit down her arms to let it pool at her waist. He gave a low little whistle, watched the way her blush expanded to her chest, and lifted his eye to meet her suddenly bashful expression. “Shit. If you ain’t the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen, I’ll eat my foot.”

She laughed and adoration crashed through him like a bullet set on ruining him. He leaned down over her, forgetting his pants entirely in the sudden desperation to drag his lips over every inch of skin she bared for him - starting at her throat. The action silenced her laughter, replaced it with another little tremulous gasp as her hands clutched at his shoulders as he greedily slid his tongue down along her throat to trace the delicate jut of her collarbones. He gave her a hard nip, and she whimpered gloriously and dragged her nails down his forearms, hard enough he was certain they left thin red welts in their wake. He rewarded her with another, this one harder than before, and then slid his open mouth down to greedily take her breast into his mouth.

Nora didn’t have much to offer in terms of quantity when it came to her breasts - laid back as she was her tits almost disappeared as they spread apart and settled back against her torso, her nipples puffy pink and enough to tempt even God to indulge the lust they inspired, and Gage thought they were gorgeous. He had no qualms about showing her just how fondly he thought of them. He tongued her nipple, swirled the tip around the tight little bud before testing her boundaries with the barest glance of his teeth. Her entire body shuddered, arched up to press more of her breast into his mouth, and he could only groan and oblige her silent demands.

When his mouth pulled away her breast gleamed with his spit, red and tender where his teeth had dared to drag across her skin, and he took a moment to drink her in before his hand lifted to palm her breast and his mouth descended onto the other to offer it the same treatment. She was a mess underneath him, panting and whining as her hips rocked up to try and tempt him, to try and find some sort of friction, and the only thing that kept her from clenching her thighs tight together were his hips acting as a barrier.

“Fuckin’ gorgeous,” he murmured, pulling his mouth away to take a deep breath and grab both tits in his large hands - and they easily encompassed each one, completely hiding them from view. He squeezed, watched the way the skin shifted under the barest amount of pressure, and she curled a hand around the back of his neck to pull his mouth down onto hers.

“I want you,” she pleaded, voice barely there against his lips. She arched up, pressed closer, tried to coax him to finally settle between her thighs and offer her the friction she clearly craved. “Please, Porter.”

Normally, he hated being called that - for the last few years he had been nothing but Gage. But when the culprit was her lips? He found he didn’t mind at all.

“Do you even know half the thoughts I’ve had about you, darlin’?” he rasped, pulling back to catch her gaze as his fingers gave her nipple a mean little twist that nearly made her squeal. He grinned, and she watched him with eyes blown wide and those full lips of hers parted to drag in shallow breaths of air. “Shit, walkin’ around in this little suit. Got the kinda ass that’d fill a man fantasies for years.”

At the words his hands slid down, finally deviating from her chest to press into her stomach, trailing along the stretch marks that striped across her soft belly and parts of her thighs, to slide underneath her and take her ass in a demanding grip. She was trembling, nearly vibrating with anticipation, and he was more than willing to give her every little thing she craved, no matter how debased or how romantic or any shade in between.

“Would do anythin’ for you, boss,” he murmured, words soft where his hands weren’t. “Hope you know that.”

“I do,” she breathed, pressing her hands to his chest and tracing each dip and curve of his abdomen - which he flexed for her benefit. Her nails dug into him, left little crescent marks behind that turned into thick red welts, and he rewarded her with a sharp smack to her ass - just where her thigh gave way to her rear. Her body tensed and froze, shock registering in her face before melting away to a blissful expression he didn’t think he’d ever be able to wipe from his mind. “Porter, please.”

“Gonna tell me what you want?” His hands petted across the spot he’d hit, soft and tender, and slid up along the inside of her thigh tauntingly until he gripped underneath her knee and used it to slowly bend her knee back towards her chest. She didn’t even to strain under the motion, her lip caught between her teeth as she watched him.

“Can’t you guess?”

“Nah,” he shook his head, let his other hand begin slowly tugging that suit down her hips until he could slip his hand underneath her panties and palm her backside skin to skin. “Think I wanna hear you say it.”

Her cheeks erupted in a blush so powerful he was almost afraid she didn’t have any left anywhere else in her body, and he grinned and dipped to kiss along her cheeks. What a fucking sap she had turned him into.

“Do that again,” she pleaded.

Unwilling to let her get away so easily, he crooked a brow and asked, “What, this?” and began to pepper her cheeks with kisses all over again, even as his hand gave her ass another mean squeeze and slid inwards, so his fingertips teased just barely against the dampened seat of her panties. She whined, loud and vibrant, and begged: “Porter, please - I want you to spank me. _Please.”_

The word was music to his ears, and he didn’t need asking twice now that he’d gotten what he’d wanted. “Damn, but ain’t that a pretty sound,” he purred. “Could do to hear you beg for me more often, darlin’.”

If she had a retort or a demand it died on her lips as he pulled back to flip her over. She squeaked, a damn adorable sound, and wiggled her hips to help as he began to drag her vault suit down over those wide hips to settle at her knees. She pushed herself up into her elbows, head cocked to watch him over her shoulders as his eye focused on the gorgeous view the position presented him. When he gripped her it was with both hands, fingertips digging into her plump rear and spreading her apart to gift himself the gorgeous view of her white cotton panties, soaked and nearly transparent where arousal had begun to gather. He groaned, and before she could say another word, his hand pulled back to give her ass another quick swat. Her body jolted forward, a stuttered moan tripping from her lips, and he ran his palm over the reddened patch of skin before repeating himself again.

It only took a few quick hits for her upper body to fall forward onto the bed, her fingers curling desperately into the sheets as her breathing quickened and her thighs tensed rhythmically. His hand shifted, cupped her cunt through her panties, fingertips pressing firm against her clit, and she keened before rocking back into his hand. Gage didn’t try to stop her. No - he just watched as she rocked back against his palm, grinding against him to finally seek that pleasure he’d thus far denied her, and he got the sharp mental image of how gorgeous she would look fucking herself back onto his cock while he sat back and watched.

“Shit,” he cursed. All patience for teasing fled him, and he hooked his fingers under her panties to drag the sodden fabric to the side. Her cunt was flushed bright pink, swollen and glistening, a feast fit for kings. He dragged his thumb over the pretty pink skin, eye losing focus at the way her entrance clenched to try and trick his thumb into her. “Prettiest god damn thing. Ain’t never seen somethin’ so tasty. Think I could spent the rest of my life with your pretty little cunt on my face and die a happy man.”

Dragging his gaze up to her face, he saw the effect his words had on her. Her eyes were glazed over with desire, mouth agape and glistening as her fingers curled into her palms and nearly tugged the shredded sheets straight off the bed.

“You like that idea, sweetheart? Like the idea of me just buryin’ my face between those thighs of yours and livin’ off your cunt?” She nodded, wild and desperate, and he laughed under his breath. “Shit. Who am I to disappoint such a sweet little face?”

Kneeling at the edge of the bed brought him exactly to the right height to grip her hips and pull her back onto his face, and he couldn’t even count the number of times he had dreamt of doing exactly this to her. Months of following her, of watching the way her hips swayed in that damn vault suit, the way the blue fabric clung to every dip and curve and taunted him with her perfect ass over and over again. It was like a damn dream come true.

There was little finesse to his actions in his desire to just taste every inch of her. His tongue slid across her pussy, one hand on her cheek while the other spread her open with his fingers - so large in comparison that it made his head spin. His thoughts were lost to the sounds she made, sweet and high and desperate as she rocked back against him. He pointed his tongue to slide it into her tight little hole, felt her body tense down around him, and he quickly began to fuck her with it. She was a mess in moments, whining as her legs kicked slightly and her toes curled up, and he remedied that by winding his arms around her thighs and keeping her rooted against him. When his tongue slid down and prodded at her clit - swollen and standing proud - she nearly sobbed.

“Please, Porter - please please, I’m so fucking close,” she begged, the sound going straight to his cock (not that it needed anymore encouragement to stand tall - he was half convinced if he got any more aroused his dick would just fucking implode). His fingers slid into place at her entrance, not quite dipping in, rubbing taunting little circles that barely breached her center. Her whole body was wound up tight, tense and trembling, and when his teeth gave her clit a quick bite and his finger finally slid in to the first knuckle, she exploded. The sound she made was obscene, stuck somewhere between a sob and a scream, and he felt the rush of liquid desire against his face as her body began to clutch and pull at his finger.

Not one to ignore an order, even a silent one such as that, Gage slid his finger in further, letting a second join as she cooed encouragingly, and began to fuck her anew. “You’re so fuckin’ wet, sweetheart,” he groaned, pulling his mouth away and resting his face against her ass to watch the way her cunt greedily sucked his fingers into her heat. “Damn. Look at that. How long’ve you been waitin’ for me to do this?”

“Months,” she gasped, voice hoarser than before as her hips rolled back against his hand. “Fuck, Porter - it’s too much.”

“Shh,” he soothed, free hand sliding over her back soothingly even as he continued to sink his fingers into her over and over again. “C’mon. One more and I’ll let you breathe. Can you do that for me?”

Though she whined in protest, she was nodding, and he pressed a kiss to the red handprint he’d left behind before renewing his efforts. The slick sound of her cunt around his fingers was loud in his ears, and one of the best damn things he’d ever heard, and once glance to her mortified expression told him she heard it plenty. “Listen to that, boss,” he crooned, and her eyes clenched shut. “Fuckin’ gorgeous sound, that’s what that is. If I’da known how badly you needed this I woulda given it to you a lot sooner.”

“Ass,” she breathed, no heat in her words. He laughed, and her whole body jolted as his teeth dug into the meat of her ass.

“You like it,” he reminded her, and any response she gave was cut off as he hooked his fingers inside of her and hit against her just so. Her body coiled up like a spring ready to unleash, and all it took was a few probing thrusts to have her crying out all over again and sending a new wave of arousal all over his fingers.

But he’d promised he’d let her breathe, so as much as he wanted to just push her further and see her absolute limit, he withdrew with a slick pop that made her whimper and bury her face into the sheets. He used the time to pull her suit the rest of the way off, her panties coming with and joining them in a pile on the floor. He stood, and Nora collapsed without his hands to keep her in place. When she rolled into her back his pants were gone, set aside, and she held out a hand to him. He took it, let her pull him down beside her, and she immediately invaded his space to press her sweet little body against his.

“I love you so much, Porter,” she breathed, curling her hands against his cheeks and pressing adoring little kisses to his lips as her thigh slid over his and hooked around his hips to drag him closer, his cock kissing up against the silken skin of her cunt and sending a little tremor through her. “I need you to tell me you know how much I love you.”

Gage swept a hand through her hair - the one not currently drenched in her slick - and he kissed her just as sweetly as she had kissed him. “I know, darlin’. Don’t gotta tell me twice.” He ran his nose along the slope of her throat, breathed in the scent of her, and murmured against her throat - still awkward with words, even if he would have given her the whole world if he could. “You gotta know I love you to. Ain’t very good at hidin’ it.”

“I know,” she breathed, arching into him with a blissful little sigh. They laid there like that, her body calming down while his continued to rage with desire. They traded soft kisses, the fervor from before giving way to something tender, and when her hips began to rock against him he let his hand side down to grip her thigh and keep her pinned to his body.

“I gotta have you, darlin’,” he murmured. “Tell me I can.”

She nodded, burying her face against his throat, and his hand curled into her hair to keep her cradled close as the hand at her thigh drifted between them to take himself in hand. The sudden attention after ignoring it for so long in her favor had him grunting, and he pressed the side of his face against hers as he allowed himself a moment to drag his hand along his length. He tugged back his foreskin to drag a thumb along the tip, precum sticking to his skin as he groaned again. Nora shifted closer, though she couldn’t move much considering how little space was left between them, and pressed her heel into the small of his back encouragingly.

Rolling his hips forward to slowly drag his cock along her silken entrance made her gasp and shudder, as sensitive as ever, and he used the hand in her hair to drag her face up to his and claim her mouth as he lined himself up and finally - desperately - pressed into her. The heat was indescribable and all-encompassing, her body clutched tightly around his cock, and for a moment the world went black as his eyes squeezed shut and he groaned in time with her. He could feel her nails biting into his sides as she keened and arched against him, and he rocked forward slowly, pressing inch after inch into her velvet heat. His hand retreated back to her thigh to pull her closer as he sank into her until he was hilted inside of her, and she was shivering against him as she began to pant against his skin.

“Shit, darlin,” he grunted, withdrawing slightly only to thrust back home, making her whine. “Didn’t think you’d be so fuckin’ tight.”

“Gentle,” she breathed, running her mouth along his jaw when kissing seemed to become too much for either of them to focus on. “It’s been…a while.”

“I’ll be careful,” he promised - and even though there was a part of him that just wanted to pound relentlessly into her, he could wait. Another time, another day - they had the rest of their lives ahead of them to fuck, but this he wanted to be softer. He wanted her to give her something beautiful, and he didn’t have much, but he could do this.

They rocked slowly against each other, his hips setting a gentle rhythm that had Nora shuddering and gasping against him. He could feel each little puff of breath against his throat, could feel each vibration as she moaned, and he didn’t know how he’d ever survive without being able to hear those sounds ever again.

His arm wound around her, wedged between the bed and her to curl around her shoulders and keep her body pinned against his. Each thrust of his hips had the base of his cock sliding over her clit, and based on the way she quickly went nonverbal she appreciated it every single time. Gage was lost in the sound of them, from the slick squelch of his cock sliding in and out of her cunt to the soft gasps and tiny whimpers as she writhed against him to help him sink deep.

“So fuckin’ beautiful,” he groaned like a broken record against her temple, his eye falling shut as they both lost themselves to the glorious feel of finally uniting, and he lost track of the compliments and praises he gave her as their pleasure began to mount and tension began to coil to a fever pitch. “m almost there, darlin’.”

“Gage, please,” she pleaded, voice muffled against his skin, now damp from her kisses and the adoring sweep of her tongue against his pulse. “I want it.”

“Where?”

She arched and whined, pulled her face from his neck to draw in a ragged breath as he adjusted his grip on her, shifted the angle so his cock pressed just right inside of her, hitting that spot on every inward thrust. “In me,” she gasped. Her hand fell, gripped his hip and pulled him closer as if to try and keep him from pulling out of her. “Please, please, Porter, I want to feel you.”

“Shit.” It wasn’t the smart thing to do, and he should have thought twice, but there was nothing in the world that would keep him from giving her what she wanted. His hips sped, the pace increasing as he chased down that promised pleasure, and it was the sudden rhythmic clenching of her cunt around him as she came with his name on her lips that sent him over the edge. He came inside of her, hips pressed flush together, and her entire body trembled against his long after her pleasure began to fade and his mind began to slowly reassert itself.

Gage pulled back, tried to withdraw so she could get cleaned up, but she pulled him close again and shook her head, the motion barely perceptible from her position against him. “Stay,” she whispered. “Just a bit longer.”

“I’ll stay for more than just a bit if you let me,” he warned, tone light and lips curving into a small smile. He could feel her smile against his skin, and he welcomed the way she tried to burrow into him until there was no space left to fill, their legs intertwined and bodies flush together.

Gage lost track of time, laying in her arms, and eventually her breath began to slow and deepen and soon enough she was dozing against him, breath tickling the hairs on his chest as her fingers finally went limp and simply rested against his side. All it took was a small shift of their position for him to pull out of her, and when there was enough space between them to catch a glimpse of her face there was that little furrow between her brow, and even unconscious her hands tried to pull him back against her.

“Gonna be the death of me, woman,” he murmured, abandoning his plans to try and clean them both up and simply letting himself fall back into place beside her.

Besides. There was no place else he’d rather be.


End file.
